You Stole My Idea

You stole my idea. But it’s OK. Because without me, the execution of my idea is (at worst) nothing and (at best) yours. It’s a sentiment that I’ve held for a long time and today I read about some clever people who agree.

It’s really the execution of the idea that matters. I may have the idea of creating a social network or a geolocation based checkin, but there are tons of other companies with the same idea. What differs is the execution of the idea, and the victor more often than not, out executes and out maneuvers the competition. Pek Pongpaet

In fact, a lot of my ideas are born out of other ideas that have already been brought to life. The idea becomes mine when combining a host of other variables (not the least of which is my own personal values and experience) with one of the following scenarios.

1. Using the idea in a new context –i.e. in a different location or on a different audience. The process of which often requires changing the idea significantly anyway.

2. Improving on the idea through increased efficiency, quality or capital (creative, finance and infrastructure).

Here’s an example:

Over the past 12 months (maybe more) I’ve been archiving interesting product/design blogs for an idea that (I think) I stole from my friends at wearehunted.com (but I can’t be sure). Their idea isn’t/wasn’t new either, but the execution of their idea created something new and remarkable: remarkable, in part, because there turned out to be a lot of people interested in it.

The idea:

A weekly ranking of the best new design-based products on the web with a link to an online retailers where each product can be purchased. If the product is not available the user can register their desire for the product and/or share it with their personal network. When we have a significant number of people demanding the product we will contact the designer/manufacturer to arrange a group purchase.

1. I’ve identified (manually) what I think are 50 of the best design/product blogs on the web.
2. Each week the new products posted on these 50 blogs will be captured and measured across the web using monitoring tools to rank the top 10 new design products (based on the number of people across the web who are talking about these new products).
3. The top 10 products each week will be visually ranked on pitythecool.com (or other domain) and and linked through to online retailers where the product is available.
4. A small commission will be paid by the retailer on sales referred from this site.

There is obviously a lot more you could do with a concept like this that is (arguably) more interesting. Like, for instance looking at ways to predict which products are going to be popular rather than just measuring what people are already into. Consider this the first step.

What’s required: web developer who understands how to build an algorithm that can automate the steps above.

Anyone interested in collaborating on this with me?

[via PSFK]

Update: My 25 top product design blogs (in no particular order)…

1. http://www.psfk.com/
2. http://www.picocool.com/upcoming
3. http://svpply.com/
4. http://www.stilsucht.de/
5. http://mocoloco.com/
6. http://www.core77.com/
7. http://www.weheart.co.uk/
8. http://www.plussixfive.com/
9. http://www.japantrends.com/
10. http://inhabitat.com/
11. http://www.dailyicon.net/
12. http://www.dailytonic.com/
13. http://www.designboom.com/eng/index.xtml
14. http://www.changethethought.com/
15. http://www.sweet-station.com/blog/
16. http://coolmaterial.com/
17. http://www.buzz-beast.com/
18. http://minordetails.typepad.com/md_weblog/
19. http://www.swiss-miss.com/
20. http://www.dezeen.com/
21. http://www.coolhunting.com/
22. http://www.dwell.com/
23. http://www.notcot.com/
24. http://hypebeast.com/
25. http://valetmag.com/